How quickly can I get a model into Sefaira?  

There are many ways to get a model into Sefaira as quickly as possible. One is to take a screenshot of a 2D plan and trace over it in SketchUp. Below outlines an example of how to do this.

You will see that a much more meticulously drawn geometry will give slightly but not significantly different outputs at the concept stage.

What are the steps?  

• Take the pdf (screenshot) of your plan;

• Import it into SketchUp

• Place the image in the SketchUp file

• Scale it correctly

• Now trace over it using the pencil or rectangles - I have used a very rough shape to show how quickly this can be done

• Zone your building roughly

• Now you can remove the png/jpeg that you used and complete the model

• The model requires a few checks before opening in Sefaira - see how here.

• Once it is checked and some glazing added, the model can be pre-checked for energy and daylight - see how here.

• Then upload the model into the Sefaira Web Application using the large blue button - see how here.

A special consideration for multi-storey buildings

1. Sefaira looks at a SketchUp models and understands where rooms are located by assessing how the floor is divided.
2. In this case, the example model contains interior wall planes. The bottom edge of each interior wall plane helps define the rooms' footprints that Sefaira can understand.   
3. Now, these interior wall planes also extend to the roof.
4. Lets say we wanted to model a three storey building, with different room layouts on each floor, using a single-plane modeling technique. We would need to ensure that the interior walls on the ground floor were not defining room footprints for the floor above.
5. We could do this by making the ground floor interior walls slightly shorter than the floor-to-floor height. Or, in an Energy Analysis Only scenario, we could opt to use lines on the floor instead of interior walls to define the room footprints. 

• You are now ready to setup your model in the web app. Start by checking out Zoning. See the article on how best to do it here.